Welcome to HVAC-Talk.com, a non-DIY site and the ultimate Source for HVAC Information & Knowledge Sharing for the industry professional! Here you can join over 150,000 HVAC Professionals & enthusiasts from around the world discussing all things related to HVAC/R. You are currently viewing as a NON-REGISTERED guest which gives you limited access to view discussions

To gain full access to our forums you must register; for a free account. As a registered Guest you will be able to:

Participate in over 40 different forums and search/browse from nearly 3 million posts.

It is a new system and I am filling the system with the 40% water-glycol mixture. Sorry for not being clear enough.
The points are:
-the pump must be able to suck from the drum
-the water-glycol mixture must be an approved fluid
There is no need in considerable delivery head because all the units are one the same level

As stated by socotech, use a piece of 3/4 pvc to dip into the drum, make sure the end of pipe your putting in is cut at a 45* angle, if just flat cut end will sometimes suck to the bottom of the drum. I have a custom made cap from another drum that I uni-bitted a hole in so I screw that into the new drum and push my 3/4 inch down in and hold it solid, also another hole in cap to allow air to enter drum.
Need a 3/4" PVC MPT fitting so you can put a 6ft or so hose from the PVC to the inlet of pump. Out let of pump just use another hose and tie to the fill bib of the system. Make sure to prime the pump with water or whatever and your off to the races.
Obviously if your system is piped properly should have air separators. I will usually have a ball valve before the separator to allow easy future replacement. I remove separator and throttle the ball valve until I my glycol/water mix starts burping out the top. Run the system pumps and keep burping and adding until all the air is out of system.
If system is piped right then can be an easy straight forward process, if not...can take quite sometime to get air out of certain areas.

Make sure your using the right glycol as specified by the manufacturer of the boiler...those new aluminum heat exchangers require a special mixture.

I use a Liberty 331 utility pump and washing machine and 3/4 hoses. I can fill a 400 gallon system section in about 3-4 hours with alot of running around for changing valves and checking air venting points.

I would get a positive displacement pump from Grainger, their brand is Dayton. A Taco Pony Pump is what I have on the truck and it will take down a 55 gal. drum in 5 to 10 minutes up to 15 ft. or so of head. Make a dip tube like others have said and have fun switching all of the drums.